Throughout the passage by Micheal Erard there were multiple examples of ways to define metaphor. In James Geary’s TED talk, he explained that metaphor is when one object is given the name of something else. Micheal Erard explains the example used by Dedre Gentner which he calls mapping two concepts. He explains that there are two steps in this mapping process. The first step is that there must be some sort of shared thing between the two concepts. This part is obvious and it makes sense because there has to be some sort of connection for a comparison to be made. The second step is that there must be other connections between these two things. I think this example explains really well what differs a good metaphor from a great metaphor. Along with that, I also really like this explanation of metaphor in general. I do not know if this is just because of the wording or what, but I think the explanation of mapping metaphor is really easy to understand. There was another explanation of metaphor that compares it to a room. This room is described with “ windows and doors that frame a view towards the reality outside,”(Erard). It is also explained that depending on where you sit, or how the window is positioned can affect what a person sees. This is how a metaphor works, the wording that a person uses when making the comparisons can affect a person’s perspective and understanding of the subject. If the person designing the metaphor is trying to get a particular point across they can use certain wording and sentence structure to do so. They may also do this to make a metaphor easier to understand. An example Erard uses is, English is a bottleneck. He explains that changing it to, English is like a bottleneck, by just adding the word like the it becomes much easier to understand. I think the different examples that Micheal Erard uses in his passage are very effective in explaining metaphor. In high school we were always told the definition of metaphor is a comparison without using like or as. Though this is a correct definition of metaphor, I think it is too simple. After reading the different examples Erard uses I think I have a much better understanding of metaphor.
